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Charge
CHARGE captures the shock of zero-emissions motorcycle racing to the most old-school, fossil-fuel addicted speed-freaks in the world - the teams, riders and fans of the Isle of Man TT. The film follows electric racing pioneers from America, Europe and Asia to the island in the Irish Sea for the first zero-emissions race there in 2009 and, for those that survive, on their return in 2010.
Written and directed by Mark Neale
Narrated by Ewan McGregor
Starring Michael Czysz, Cedric Lynch, Arvind Rabadia, Mark Miller, Rob Barber
Vegas Independent Film Festival 2012
Winner: Best Documentary
All the geeks, thrills and laughs, and double the technology, of the toughest motorcycle race in the world gone electric.
– Rob Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics
STORY
This is the Isle of Man TT…
by Mark Neale
“This is the Isle of Man TT. We’ve come to see hard men ride hard motorcycles, not piss about on battery-powered scrap.”
That sums up the reaction of most TT fans on the Isle of Man in 2009, the year of the first electric race there. Clean, quiet, motorcycle racing at an average speed of less than 100mph? You must be kidding.
“What would you do if you could ride one of these bikes,” we asked another fan. ‘I’d ride it off a cliff,’ came the answer
Today there’s an electric championship in MotoGP and even TT legends like John McGuinness have embraced the hi-tech missiles (his average speed at last year’s TT Zero: 121mph).
A decade ago it was a very different story. CHARGE tells that story. It’s a great racing movie (‘a must-see motorcycle movie’ Dan Aspel, Motorcycle News) and it’s a head-on collision of cultures. Tech versus tradition, Yanks versus Brits, riders versus death - plus an electrical wizard in a wooden shed. It’s got it all.
Michael Czysz
Cedric Lynch
Arvind Rabadia
Mark Miller
Rob Barber
Rochelle Watson - Editor
Chris Norr - Director of Photography
Grant Gee, Neve Cunningham, Mark Neale - Camera Operators
tomandandy, Gabe Castro - Music
Tommy Neale - Additional Music
Jim Watson - Sound Design
Mark Neale, Paul Kewley, Chuck Ryant - Producers
Year: 2011
Runtime: 92 minutes
IMDB Rating: 7.0
Production Notes: First released in 2011.
Updated version released in 2013.
Running time: 92 minutes.
CHARGE was filmed in the USA, the UK and the Isle of Man in 2009 and 2010.
Original footage shot on P2 HD: Panasonic HVX200.
The film was edited and completed in Los Angeles between January 2010 and May 2011
CHARGE played in selected US theaters in May 2013.
In the UK, a one-hour version of the film was included in a special edition DVD of ‘ TT: Closer to the Edge’.
The film is dedicated to Michael Czysz, the person who got me involved in this strange and fascinating adventure. Michael was a ferociously driven individual who sacrificed everything - money, relationships, his own design business - in his obsessive quest to build a race-winning motorcycle. Like his hero the New Zealander John Britten, he was stopped in his tracks by illness. Born on opposite sides of the world, their lives were eerily similar - both architectural designers turned motorcycle builders and both struck down in their prime. I’m glad we were there to capture Michael’s moment in the sun.
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